Sister jailed for trying to wreck her own brother’s wedding by calling off ceremony behind his back

A vindictive sister who called off her brother’s wedding behind his back because she disliked his fiancée has been jailed.

Ann Duffy was given eight weeks for her scheme, said to have resembled an ‘EastEnders plot line’.

The 50-year-old’s conduct had been unacceptable and caused inconvenience and upset, she was told by magistrate Graham Price.

‘It was a planned, deliberate, spiteful and vindictive offence,’ he added.

After the hearing, her sister-in-law, Sandra Greatrex, 28, said: ‘Neither of us will ever forgive her.’

Duffy introduced her brother, David Greatrex, to his future wife in 2012 but grew jealous of their relationship.

They also clashed over the care of her elderly mother, who had moved in with the engaged couple.

Back on track: The couple on their wedding day (Picture: SWNS)

Three weeks before their wedding in November last year, she posed as the bride when she phoned the register office to cancel the ceremony.

Afterwards she called Mr Greatrex, telling him: ‘You had better put this on speakerphone. I have saved you from a divorce. I have cancelled your wedding.

‘Would you like me to send you the confirmation email?’ However, the couple managed to get their wedding day reinstated on their planned date, although Duffy turned up and showered them with abuse as they left.

After Mrs Greatrex contacted the police, Duffy told officers she had attempted to protect her brother from a marriage to someone she disliked and who she felt was taking away her mother.

Rebecca Wood, defending, said: ‘She does not like her sister-in-law and there are ongoing issues between them. It is not an excuse. She intended to cause inconvenience and upset.’

Duffy, from Plymouth, had admitted pursuing a course of conduct that amounted to harassment. She had 23 convictions with 41 offences, between 1990 and 2012, the court heard.

As well as the jail term, disabled Duffy was given an indefinite restraining order banning her from contacting her sister-in-law.

After the hearing at Plymouth magistrates’ court, father-of-four Mr Greatrex said: ‘She was really jealous and kept accusing Sandra of trying to take her brother away.’